GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
You have to spend money to make money and wins, particularly in the NCAA Transfer Portal. That has been the motto of many a college football program in the country since the portal opened for business in 2021-22. And now, finally, at LSU, too.
After promising a new financial commitment to the portal and putting his own money into, LSU football coach Brian Kelly is already seeing a return on his investment in one weekend. He and his staff are now buying starters to build a roster around instead of the old, other way around , which was building a roster through high school recruiting and complementing it with portal additions here and there.
Kelly and his wife Paqui announced a new “Million Dollar Match Challenge” on Friday in which they will match public donations to LSU’s Name, Image & Likeness fund that pays players and attracts them through the portal. The Kelly duo will match whatever new NIL money LSU receives with a maximum donation of $1 million to the Tiger Athletic Foundation, a fund-raising arm for LSU athletics. Different category, sure, but it’s all LSU money.
And since that announcement and some heavy recruiting by Kelly and staff throughout the past week, including hosting top targets, LSU has four on the floor via the portal in just two days.
The fourth LSU portal commitment made his announcement Saturday night – Nebraska two-year starting edge rusher Jimari Butler (6-foot-5, 260 pounds) is headed to LSU as a transfer for his senior season in 2025.
🤞🏾let’s do it https://t.co/NosbcxLP6l
— 1 0 (@ButlerJimari) December 15, 2024
Butler, who has had 7.5 sacks in his last two seasons at Nebraska, chose the Tigers over Florida State and Texas A&M.
The previous three starters who have transferred to LSU were Oklahoma tight end Bauer Sharp on Friday afternoon and Kentucky wide receiver Barion Brown and Florida cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson both earlier Saturday.
LSU LIKELY TO HAVE MORE WHERE THESE CAME FROM
And LSU is far from done yet. Kelly has said he has a number in mind for the portal this recruiting season – 12. He is only a third of the way there. And he is looking for a higher quality transfer than he found with the nine additions last year and much more quality than with the 16 in his first year. That’s when he desperately had to fill a depleted roster after inheriting only 39 scholarship players when he took the job after the 2021 season.
So, stay tuned. Kelly is not just recruiting to the LSU name, its tradition, history and culture, or to Tiger Stadium, or night football, or tailgating, or any other parts of the mystique on the bayou.
“Your brand has to be backed up with the ability to supplement that with dollars, because that’s what we’re in,” Kelly said.
The rest of the college football has been in it for two or three years already, but OK. There’s no time like the present.
“And so, if you want to get into the portal, if you want to be able to close some of these, you have to have active participation from a donor base,” he said.
Hence, the “Million Dollar Match Challenge” announcement on Friday – four days after players could officially enter the portal through Dec. 28.
Kelly may as well be Santa Claus.
“And it (the donor base) can’t be just one or two guys,” Kelly said.
No, LSU’s major donors need a bunch of big time elves and little ones.
“It has to be from all those that want to see LSU at the top of the food chain,” he said. “And that’s just the reality of where we are today.”
Yes, Kelly’s Workshop is just beginning to hammer.
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